Not So Tough
by Alera33
Summary: AU: Someone new moves to Magnolia and has to work on an English project with Gajeel. How does she react to his attitude? She quickly finds he's not as tough as he seems. Reader Insert.


"Give us your money," they demand, cornering me at my locker.

"No," I strongly reply, looking defiantly at the boys surrounding me.

"Look, I know you're new here," the leader of the group of boys says to me, a smirk on his face. "But when I ask for money, you give it to me." He leans in close to my face, staring into my cold (E/C) eyes.

"I said no." The boys face contorts into an angry expression as he lifts his fist into the air, about to strike me. I close my eyes, bracing for the impact, but nothing happens, only a small gasp is heard. I open my eyes, seeing a man with spiky black hair in front of me. It's Gajeel, one of the "popular people" in my junior class. He had grabbed the boy's wrist, stopping the punch an inch from my face.

"You are all pathetic," Gajeel says in his gravelly voice, his piercings glinting in the light. The boy wrenches his arm away from the black haired males grip, then set his sights on Gajeel. "You might want to get behind me Pipsqueak." Gajeel turns attention to me. I glare him for the nickname, but obediently go behind him.

Gajeel stands where he is, the other guys charging him. He defends against and dodges all of their attacks, making sure to keep me safe behind him, but never attacking them. Once all of the boys were successfully knocked out or had run away, Gajeel turns to me.

"You're lucky I was here, Pipsqueak," he says looking at me with a smirk. I glare at him again.

"My name is not Pipsqueak," I say harshly, poking a finger into his chest. "It's (Name). (First Name) (Last Name)." Giving him one more piercing glare, I walk away, going to the roof to eat my lunch.

Cliche, I know but I'm the new kid and I don't want to sit a lunch table by myself while everyone is judging me. I hear footsteps behind me before Gajeel runs up, walking beside me.

"You never let me tell you my name," he says, slouching with his hands in his pockets. "My name is Gajeel Re-"

"I know," I interrupt. Gajeel raises an eyebrow at me.

"You know?" He questions.

"Yup." I take the stairs to the roof. "You're part of the "popular group" in the school so yes, I know your name," I say rolling my eyes and using air quotations. I open the door to the roof and place my bag in the shade, leaning against the brick wall as Gajeel sits beside me. His eyes are closed as he leans his head back against the wall. The air is cold but tolerable if you are wearing a jacket.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, taking my lunch out of my bag. "Shouldn't you be eating lunch with your friends?" Gajeel shrugs, his eyes still closed.

"I like coming up here sometimes. My friends are very loud." I nod my head in understanding.

We sit in silence, as I eat half my lunch before setting the rest on Gajeel's lap. He opens his eyes, alarmed by the sudden weight. He looks at me curiously before eating the rest without asking a question like I expected him to do.

The bell rings and we both stand up, Gajeel hands me back the containers that my lunch came in.

"Thanks," he says, turning to the door.

"Thank you for helping me," I say, swallowing my pride. Gajeel nods at me before leaving. I sigh taking my schedule out of my bag.

' _English, Room 124.'_ I groan seeing what it is. Don't get me wrong, I love to read and I think English is a useful class for later in life, but analyzing what we read and writing papers kills me. I quickly find the room and enter, seconds before the bell rings. The students follow me with their eyes as I walk up to the teacher, Mrs. Peters. She greets me kindly before goading me into introducing myself to the class.

' _Why did she have to be so nice? If she was mean then maybe I could tell her no,' I internally pout._ I walk myself to the front of the room and stare at the back wall not at any of the student's faces.

"Hi," I say, awkwardly introducing myself to the wall. "I'm (First Name) (Last Name). I like reading and I moved here a week ago." A couple of the students snicker but I don't pay attention.

"Thank you (Name)," Mrs. Peters says. "Why don't you go sit by Gajeel. Gajeel please raise your hand." I look at the students in surprise, seeing Gajeel near the back of the room, raising his hand. I quickly walk to the back, my eyes glued to the ground. As I reach the back, someone sticks their foot out in front of me but I quickly jump over it. It was the boy from earlier that wanted my money. I smirk at him before taking my seat next to Gajeel.

"Patrick," Mrs. Peters says sternly as the smirk grows on my face. "Go to the principal's office right now." She points to the door. "I will not stand for any bullying or teasing in my class." Patrick glares at me before going out the door. From beside me Gajeel gives out a small huff of laughter before setting his head on his arms and closing his eyes. Mrs. Peters goes on with the lesson, talking about the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. After around thirty minutes of discussing the play, Mrs. Smith picks us a whiteboard eraser and throws it at Gajeel. I watch in shock as Gajeel catches the eraser without opening his eyes.

"I'm awake," he grumbles, his voice husky from his nap. He yawns showing his oddly sharp canines and stretches his arms up in the air. He throws the eraser back to the front of the room and the teacher catches it.

"Now that you're awake Mr. Redfox," Mrs. Peters says. "We can discuss the partner projects I am assigning." Everyone in the room groans as I rest my forehead on the table in defeat, cursing my life.

' _If she lets us choose partners I'm done for but if she assigns partners I'm still done for because my partner will most likely make me do all the work since I'm the newbie.'_

"Your partner will be the person you are sitting next to." I give a little sigh of relief, at least I somewhat know my partner. "The project is to memorize a soliloquy from the play Hamlet and perform it to me. I have already assigned what soliloquies you will be doing. Grey and Juvia -" she begins telling what soliloquies we will be doing. "Gajeel and (Name). You will be doing the soliloquy in act two scene two. It starts with, Now I am alone." My jaw drops hearing the soliloquy she gave us. It's the longest one out of all of his soliloquies! "These soliloquies will be due in two weeks so I expect you to work outside of class on these."

"(Name) and Gajeel, I need to see you two after class," Mrs. Peters tells us. The rest of the class period drags on until the bell rings. Gajeel slowly drags himself out of his chair as we walk over to the teacher's desk.

"You wanted to see us Mrs. Peters?" I ask her.

"Yes," she says looking up at me from her chair. "I saw the shock on your face when I told you what soliloquy I assigned you. I know it's the longest in the play, but I believe you can do it. (Name), I looked at your English grades from your last school and lower grades. You should be in a higher level class." I blush at her praise. "And Gajeel is very good at English despite his lack of effort in the class at times so I think you will work well together." With that we leave, walking through the hallways on our way home.

"When do you want to start working on the project?" Gajeel mumbles.

"I don't care. Whenever is fine with me. We could work on them now if you want." He shrugs and I roll my eyes. "Or we could get to know each other first since I'm new." He nods at this suggestion so I grab his hand and pull him out to my car, a black mustang.

"This is yours?" Gajeel asks with an eyebrow raised, admiring my car.

"Yup," I say proud of my car. Gajeel stops in his tracks. I look back to see him rubbing the back of his neck, a light blush on his face.

"Can I-Can I drive?" He asks. I laugh at him and his blush becomes more prominent. I think for a moment before answering.

"Sure, but you better not get a scratch on her," I tell him with a threatening glare. He nods and I hand him the keys.

"Wow Shrimp," Gajeel says, a smirk on his face and his blush gone. "I didn't know you liked holding hands with me that much." I look to to see our hands still entwined as a blush colors my cheeks. I pull my hand away, losing the warmth from his hand.

"Watch it," I remind him. "I can always not let you drive my car." His smirk drops and we get into my car. "We can go to my house, I'll give you the directions." As we drive to my house, Gajeel speeds the entire way, loving the adrenaline. Once we get out, I laugh at him as he runs his hand along my car. He glares at me but doesn't stop admiring it.

"Looks like someone is in love," I tease him as he growls at me in return. "Come on, let's get inside." My house is small, nothing fit for a family but perfect for me.

"Do you want some food?" I ask him, walking into the kitchen.

"Sure," he says.

"Ahh!" I say in mock fear. "It speaks!" Gajeel rolls his eyes at me, not amused. I quickly make grilled cheese for both of us, putting lots of meat on his hoping it's how he likes it.

"Where are your parents?" Gajeel asks after he finishes. I take his plate and begin to wash them.

"Why don't we take this time to get to know each other. We can ask questions back and forth," I say, trying to avoid the question.

"Okay, I'll start," he says. "Where are your parents?" I sigh in defeat.

' _Seems like someone can't take a hint.'_

"My mother and I have never gotten along. When I was fourteen my father died and I became emancipated this year so that I didn't have to live with her anymore," I say, putting the dishes away before turning to him. "Which of your piercings hurt the worst?"

"The ones on my arms," he replies without hesitation.

"Your arms?" I ask confused. Gajeel stands up from the chair where he is sitting in and walks over to me, taking off his leather jacket along the way to reveal his black sleeveless shirt, the scars on his right arm, and the four piercings on both of his arms.

"That is so cool," I say, running my fingers over studs. Remembering something, I snap my head up to look at Gajeel, one of my hands still on his arm. "I forgot to ask, do you like cats?"

"I love cats," he blurts out, a blush dusting his cheeks from embarrassment. "Most of my friends have cats and I want one too but I haven't found the right one yet." I move my hand down Gajeel's wrist, he shivers as I grab his hand.

"Come with me," I say pulling him along. "Are you cold? I can turn the heat up." I had noticed his shiver.

"No," he says a blush adorning his face. "I'm fine." We arrive at my bedroom and I open the door, pulling Gajeel in with me. I let go of his hand and turn on the light then walk over to my bed, picking up my grey tabby named George. I walk over to Gajeel and hand him my cat.

"Gajeel, this is my cat, George." Gajeel grins as he pets the cat purring in his arms. An electric guitar is heard as Gajeel's phone rings. While continuing to hold George, he answers his phone.

"(Name), I have to but can we hang out again tomorrow?" He asks.

"Of course," I say as he walks to the door. "Gajeel, can I have my cat back?" He grumbles, but with a blush hands George back. "Shoot, how are you going to get back to your house? Is your car still at the school?"

"No," Gajeel answers. "I'm close enough to the school that I can walk or I ride with one of my friends so I usually don't take my car to school. And I can walk, it's not a big deal."

"No I don't want you walking home. Take my car just come pick me up before school, okay?"

"Alright," he says with a grin. "I'll see you tomorrow morning Shrimp." He ruffles my (H/C) hair on his way to the door.

"Hey!" I yell at him, he laughs as he leaves. Making my way to the kitchen, I notice his leather jacket on his chair.

' _I'll give it to him tomorrow.'_

After eating dinner, I get on my computer, searching for something very important. It was two hours of searching until I finally found it.

* * *

The next morning I'm running late. Gajeel is already outside, he honks the horn, letting me know he's here. I run into the kitchen, quickly grabbing some food and shoving it into my mouth before going to brush my teeth.

"(Name)?" Gajeel calls, stepping into my home. "Are you up?"

"Yes," I say coming out of the bathroom. "Sorry, I'm running a bit late."

"It's fine, but we need to leave right now if we're going to get to school on time."

"I would've thought you would be one of those people that doesn't care if they get to school on time," I tease him as I feed George.

"I'm not," he says staring at me. "But Miss should be in a higher level english class probably does." He teases back as I playfully glare at him.

"Let's go," I say after slipping on my shoes. Halfway out the door, I realize I forgot something. "Shoot! I'll be right back." I run to the kitchen and grab Gajeel's leather jacket. Running out the door, I realize I forgot my own jacket as the cold air bites my exposed skin. Jumping into the car, I hand Gajeel his jacket.

"You forgot it yesterday."

"You keep it for today," he says, pulling out of the driveway. "It's freezing out and you forgot a jacket. Plus I'm wearing my hoodie so I don't need it."

"Okay, thanks," I say with a blush on my cheeks as I pull on his jacket. It's massive on me, as expected, but I'm grateful for it's warmth.

* * *

The end of the day comes quickly and Gajeel and I leave for my house, him driving again. We get inside and Gajeel immediately goes into my room to pet my cat. I follow him but stop when my phone gives a ping. I look at the notification and grin.

' _Perfect.'_

"Gajeel," I say walking into my room seeing him sitting on my bed, George in his lap. "I need to run a quick errand. Is it ok if I leave you here for maybe fifteen minutes?"

"Yeah, that's fine," he says a little confused but doesn't question it. He tosses me the keys and I quickly leave and return in fifteen minutes like I had said. I go in my room, carrying the package to find Gajeel asleep on my bed, cuddling with George. Setting it down on the floor, I gently shake Gajeel's shoulder.

"Gajeel, wake up." He groans and opens his eyes. Sitting up on the bed, he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey (Name)," he greets, his voice low and gravily.

"I got you something!" I yell, too excited to keep it in any longer.

"Why did you get me something?" He asks confused.

"Well," I say, reaching behind me to pick up the package but I keep it hidden behind my back. "I know you really want a cat, so I got you one. I hope you like him." I take the kitten out from behind my back and hand it to him. Gajeel grins, his eyes widening in surprise as he sees the all black kitten with a white mouth.

"He is perfect, thanks Shrimp," Gajeel says as he pulls me into his lap, hugging me, careful not to squish the kitten. I pull back in his lap but don't get up.

"You're welcome," I say placing a kiss on his cheek as he madly blushes.

A/N: Yeah, I know, SUPER cliche but oh well. I hope you enjoyed it!


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